Agitator for washing machines



June 21, 1938. J, I 2,121,471

AGITATOR FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Oct. 28, 1935 lb 7 1 24 m l7 I5 2.2 6 I 2,7

IrIvEnTnn ATT URNEY wrrnss 5 Patented June 21, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 1 AGITATOR FOR WASHING MACHINES Application October 28, 1935, Serial No. 47,161

2 Claims.

My invention relates to washingmachines and more particularly to a novel agitator or dolly therefor.

An object of my invention is to provide an agitator for a washing machine which may be manufactured at a reasonable cost and which is adapted to cleanse the clothes thoroughly in a. minimum length of time without causing undue deterioration of the clothes.

Another object of my invention is to provide an agitator for adapted to wash delicate fabrics without causing deterioration thereof.

My invention further contemplates the provision of an agitator adapted to be mounted in a vat which comprises a disk and a plurality of columns rising vertically from the disk, the columns presenting a rounded surface to the clothes during operation of the agitator, whereby con tact by the clothes with sharp surfaces is avoided.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a novel agitator for a washing machine which is adapted to cause thorough and complete circulation of the clothes around the vat in one circulatory direction so as to continually present new clothes surfaces to the action of the agitator, whereby during the washing operation the entire body of the clothes is subjected to the scrubbing and thread-deforming eifect of the agitator.

A further object of my invention is to provide an agitator capable of agitating the clothes and washing fluid with the same efiectiveness throughout the depth of cleansing fluid and to provide an agitator which will not tangle the clothes.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a View of the agitator, partly in section, showing the agitator mounted in a washing vat.

Figure 2 is a view taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view of a modified form of the agitator shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a View taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

The agitator of my invention is adapted to be 50 mounted in a vat or tub H in which the clothes and washing fluid are placed. The washing vat may be of any desired shape, either square or, as shown in the drawing, circular in cross section. The agitator, generally indicated by the numeral I2, is preferably mounted centrally of the vat ll iii a washing machine especially and is driven by a shaft I3 extending upwardly through the bottom of the vat. The shaft I3 may be either rotated or oscillated by any suitable mechanism and from any suitable source of power, not necessary to be shown or described herein, since such driving mechanism is well known in the art to which this invention applies. Preferably, the shaft is driven in an oscillatory manner so as to drive the agitator through an arc of 180, more or less, and at a speed of between fifty and sixty oscillations per minute.

The upper end of the shaft [3 is splined, as indicated at I l, to receive cooperating splines l5 formed in a collar Hi. The collar i6 is press fitted into a sleeve H which surrounds the shaft and extends to the bottom of the agitator. The agitator l2 comprises a. disk-shaped base l8 which may be made flat or, preferably, have its central portion, as indicated at l8, slightly raised in order to accommodate betweenthe bottom of the base and the bottom of the vat packing or other means for preventing leakage of cleansing fluid around the shaft. The raised portion is of the base, as shown in the drawing, merges smoothly into the central vertical sleeve ll so that the base and central sleeve are integral.

Rising vertically from the base 58 are, preferably, three circular blades or verticalcolumns 2| which are spaced about the central sleeve ll. Preferably, the vertical columns M are placed upon the disk so that the outer vertical edges thereof substantially coincide with the outer edge of the disk. The vertical columns are also preferably somewhat smaller in diameter than the radius of the disk so that an open space exists around the central sleeve H.

A cap 22, of any desired shape, is placed upon the top of the agitator and retained in position by a screw 24 threaded into the top of the sleeve H. The cap 22 has a bottom horizontal surface 26 having an opening 21 for the reception of the sleeve. A plate 26, secured to and extending over the tops of the columns, serves as a closure for the columns and prevents splashing of the liquid upwardly. The plate 26 may be secured to the sleeve l1 and to the columns in any suitable manner as by welding or may be formed integral therewith.

When the agitator is oscillated, the clothes are carried backwardly and forwardly in the 50 Vat in accordance with the oscillations of the agitator. Because the columns present rounded surfaces to the clothes which are effective throughout the depth of the liquid in the Vat, the clothes, while vigorously agitated by the agi- 55 while essentially the same irr construction, has. I

a very different action on the clothes due to the fact that the columns are cut in half so as to provide semi-circular columns extending from the base l8 to the top of the agitator. Thesemicircular columns are mounted symmetrically around the central sleeve I! with the open portions 21 of the columns all facing in the same direction and with the vertical edges 28- and 29 preferably in the same vertical plane as the axis of the agitator.

With this construction, when the agitator is rotated in a clockwise direction, the semi-circular columns, because of the cup-shaped formation, exert a positive, powerful thrust on the clothes in the clockwise direction. When the agitator is reversed, because the rounded surfaces ,3ll: of the cups are presented to the clothes,

the agitator more or less slips through the water without exerting any material tendency toreverse the direction of rotation of the contents of the vat. The clothes are thus caused to continuously circulate around the vat in one circu-- latory direction. While the action of the agitator, shownin. Figures 3 and 4, is harsher on the clothes than that shown in Figures 1 and 2, the tendency of the cups to exert any deleterious effect on the clothes is minimized by rounding off the vertical edges 28 and 29 of each of the hemispherical columns. The agitator of Figures 3 and 4, because the clothes are sometimes caught in the cups as well as caught between adjacent columns, are at times carried back and forth with the agitator, whereby a substantial whip-lash action occurs upon reversal of the agitator which results in thread deformation and a loosening of the dirt lodged in the clothes.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the agitators of my invention are of new and novel design: and that various changes and modifications may be made in the form and relation of parts without departing from the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a washing machine, a washing vat adapted to contain a quantity of clothes and washing fluid and having an approximately normal surface level of washing fluid, an agitator mounted. in said vat, means for oscillating said agitator, said agitator comprising a central axis, a base; and a plurality of columns, each of said columns being semi-circular in cross section and extending upwardly from said base, the open portions of said columns facing in the same circular direction and with the back of one column facing circularly around the base upon the open portion of an adjacent column.

2. An agitator for washing machines adapted to be mounted in. a vat containing clothes and washing fluid, said agitator comprising a base substantially smaller in diameter than the diameter of the vat, a central post extending upward from the. base, and a plurality of columns, each of said columns being semi-circular in cross. section and. extending upward from the base rigid therewith and spaced around the central post, said columns being of a diameter substantially half the radius of the base and having their open portions facing in the same circular direction and with the back of one column facing circularly around the base upon the open portion of an adjacent column.

JABEZ CURRY NELSON. 

